Be honest, you were nervous. Coronavirus going around and Elder Barrett's email still hasn't been sent out!! Don't you worry, child. This was a long week because it's transfers! Woo! I'm staying right here in Ubon (frick yeah man!), but Elder Thorn is heading out of here to taller skyscrapers in Bangkok. But there's no need to be sad, because missions only get better! My new companion is Elder Scott, who I have yet to meet, but I'm way excited to learn from him and have a ton of new experiences!
MY MASTERPIECE
We've been working on a service project, we're re-painting a school/activity center building thing that was kinda wrecked by all the floods. When the river floods (every year), this building is completely underwater, so the paint has kinda been dying. I got pretty paint splattered (my poor Oregon Track shirt) and there are still flecks of paint stuck in my arm hair, but it's been way fun! Now this is when I share about something that happened that might give my mom a heart attack and make my dad say, "oh, dude that is so awesome!" So Mom, this is your warning. As we were painting, I was bent over to check on the wall a little bit. Now something about Thailand: the buildings are much shorter, because there aren't many 6 foot tall Thais. I happen to be a 6 foot tall guava, and stood up right into a beam that was holding up the ceiling. Didn't hurt much, but when I felt it, my hand was a little wet. And when I looked at my hand I was confused, because the paint that we were using was definitely not red. Blood was kinda running down my face, even though this was the smallest little cut. I was fine, but when the Elders who weren't there saw pictures of it they thought I was dying and called Elder Thorn to make sure I wasn't in the hospital or anything haha.
BANGKOK, THE ORIENTAL CITY
Elder Thorn and I got to go to Bangkok this week! It was way fun and I forgot how much more humid Bangkok is than Ubon. It's ridiculous haha. But we took a sleeper train from Ubon and met some kids who wanted to practice some English with us and that was way fun. When we got into Bangkok, I got myself a chocolate filled bread muffin thing that was so good. So tasty oh man. We got our stuff done over there and I even filled out a baptismal record while I was at it haha. Bangkok is so busy, it's insane. The Esan is definitely more my speed haha. But we ate some Texas Chicken before we headed out and barely found a bus to Ubon. I think it was mostly because when you're white and you can speak Esan, the ticket ladies are a little friendlier to you haha. That bus ride was nuts, though. My chair didn't recline, the bus was freezing cold, my knees were tucked the entire ride (and I need to stretch out my legs so often haha), and on top of all of that, we rode for 14 sleepless hours back to Ubon. It was an experience haha. We met someone from Yasothon sitting next to us that we talked to for like 30 minutes, but other than that it was a quiet, cramped, freezing, looooong ride. But y'know what it's a fun story haha.
FULL SEND หรือ NO SEND
So I found out something that really helps me as far as speaking Thai. Other than tons of trust in God along with about all the prayers I could give, I've realized that I'm not truly exercizing my faith unless I go all in with speaking Thai. I need to full send it. If I don't have confidence in myself and that God is going to help me where I fall short. The Gift of Tongues is real, but not when you don't use it! I've had a ton of lessons since last week where I decided that I know what I want to say, so I'm just gonna say it! When I do that, my Thai sounds way smoother, I can say more, and it makes much more sense. Basically, just be comfortable when you're speaking the language! Be confident and just speak like you would in English just use some different sounding words haha. Something that's really cool that's been happening is every now and then it won't even hit me that I'm speaking Thai or that someone else is speaking Thai. I'll hear someone and I'll think, "wait why are they speaking English? Wait, that's Thai!!!" I'm pretty sure I had a dream in Thai the other night, but didn't even realize that it was in Thai until after I woke up! It's the best. I love being a missionary.
FAITH
I've realized this week that I need stronger faith. How am I going to improve and grow without trust in the Lord? In Come Follow Me, I read about how when Ishmael died, his family and Laman and Lemuel all started to complain. They had completely forgotten all that the Lord had already done for them all because of this one difficulty. How do we respond to trials? How do we respond to hardship? Do we forget the amazing things the Lord has already done for us or do we turn to him and ask him for help? Do we complain or are we grateful? Hard times will come, they always do. No matter how great things may be, they'll be a lot less great sooner or later. Faith is all about how we respond to these times. Do we have faith that the Lord will help us through this difficulty and we'll be better in the end because of it? Or do we grumble and complain when things get rocky. I'm working on this. This last week, we were following a member on his motorcyle to find a referral. He was riding a little faster than we were used to and we just kept on going haha. I looked at my watch at one point while we were still just booking it and I saw that we had been riding for 30 minutes straight. I could've groaned and asked why I had to do something so hard and so draining, but honestly I just laughed and pushed even harder. We rode for 10 km there and another 10 km back. Very quickly haha. Let's try to enjoy our difficulties and see the benefit of our efforts. The Lord is in charge and when you let him work through you, great things happen. The guy that we met is way nice and we got a return appointment for Saturday! Miracles, people. Miracles.
อร่ออออออออออออย (Oh oh oh oh oh oh)
We have a family in our Ward that is so nice and every other week invites the missionaries over for lunch on Sunday. As this was Elder Dollery's last week in Thailand, they gave us a very special treat. 3 words: Mango. Sticky. Rice. MOUNTAINS OF IT. We got there and peeled the mangoes and sliced 'em up. And then we dug in. We ate so much. We just about died honestly. But I would do it again. Do I have any regrets? Only one. I should've kept shoveling it down. Don't eat until you're full. Eat until you're tired. Amen.
LAST THINGS LAST
-3!
-I had a laundry incident. I dont wanna go into too much detail, but my clean whites were more pink than I would've hoped.
-นุ๋ asked Elder Thorn to baptize him. That's gonna be awkward when we tell him that he's in Bangkok...
-We still haven't died from Coronavirus... but we do have to wear masks now. We're real asians now haha.
-English Class is way fun, but way awkward when you just teach girls.
-Don't think for a second that just because Thailand is so great, I don't remember you. All this mango sticky rice ain't as sweet as you. Love ya mounds of sticky rice worth!
เอ็ลเดอร์ ผมสีแดง (Red haired elder)
Elder Barrett
1. I hope this guy doesn't die in a chicken fight.
2. We survived the sticky rice with a smile.
3. Way pretty sunset. But you could've guessed that, you're smart.
4-5. Chair pictures. Every chair represents how many more transfers until we die.



















